Bitcricket

Network Tools, Expert Knowledge

Network Analysis Training

Bitcricket's unique network analysis and troubleshooting courses teach you how to recognize and solve real world problems as well as perform application and protocol optimization. We emphasize and utilize direct hands-on labs, one-on-one with a network analysis tool, rather than spoon feed you the answers via canned PowerPoint presentations with little learning retention.

We assume that you are familiar with the basic operation of your protocol analyzer such as starting a capture, saving and loading a trace file, getting to the filter menu, etc. These basics are usually taught via a webinar or introductory starter course from your vendor, or learning by the seat of your pants! Once you are familiar with your analyzer, we take you to the next level during our training. But, of course, assistance is available should you get stuck figuring out a feature of the analyzer itself.

All of our training is taught by Bitcricket Founder and CTO Scott Haugdahl, a seasoned speaker, instructor, former designer and programmer of the WildPackets expert system, and author, with extensive hands-on experience who believes in 100% knowledge transfer. The courses are taught on-site at the location of your choice.

A total of 2 to 4 days is recommended, depending on how much you wish to cover. We charge a flat per day cost + travel (U.S. and most International destinations are acceptable.) Up to 10 students per session. Also refer to our basic classroom and setup requirements.

Mix and match and custom tailor your training from the following core topics:

For further questions or to book a date, please email Mr. Haugdahl directly at scott@bitcricket.com.

TCP/IP Analysis Fundamentals

  • Display, capturing, and filtering tips, tricks, and techniques throughout
  • Optimizing the packet capture location, i.e. analyzer placement
  • Tradeoffs of SPAN/mirroring vs. tapping
  • Portable vs. distributed analysis
  • IP Address Classes, Subnets, CIDR, Multicasting
  • IP Differentiated Services (diffserv), Time-to-Live (TTL), Fragmentation
  • The important role of the IP Identifier (ID)
  • The supporting role of ARP, DHCP, and DNS
  • IP Routing fundamentals including RIP and OSPF
  • The role of checksum (IP and TCP) vs. physical layer CRC
  • Layer 3 switching vs. routing
  • The role of the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
  • Examining the connectionless, stateless UDP protocol
  • Bit-by-bit analysis of the TCP connection oriented protocol header
  • Operation of the URG, ACK, PSH, RSH, SYN, and FIN flags
  • Anatomy of the TCP session establishment handshake
  • Sequence and acknowledgement number operation
  • Flow control via windowing and acknowledgements
  • Effects of TCP window scaling beyond 64k
  • Various causes of TCP retransmissions and measuring the impact
  • Recognizing low, stuck, and zero window problems
  • TCP efficiency and optimization: manual or self-tuning?
  • TCP stack improvements in the latest operating systems: XP vs. Vista
  • Techniques to measure Application Response Time (ART)
  • How to measure latency and throughput
  • Measuring Web performance

TCP/IP Advanced Troubleshooting

  • Advanced filtering and triggering techniques
  • Studying various TCP transaction types to determine network vs. server delay
  • Measuring application performance and relating it to end-user satisfaction
  • Analyzing 22 possible TCP error conditions
  • Causes of TCP resets and how to analyze it including idle and lost connections
  • Understanding the Selective Acknowledgement (SACK) and measuring it's efficiency (or inefficiency)
  • Complete task analysis breakdown of streams and objects in Web/HTTP applications and how to optimize
  • Determining if latency and turn count affects throughput
  • Detailed analysis of DOS attacks
  • Forensics and data mining techniques
  • Firewall, NAT, and VPN, troubleshooting and performance analysis
  • Analyzing before and after browser optimization
  • In-depth analysis of database applications over TCP including Oracle TNS and SQL Server
  • Multi-tier (n-Tier) analysis
  • Understanding the ins-and-outs of file transfers including MS CIFS/SMB, FTP, and utilizing HTTP
  • Details of the mail transfer protocols, SNMP, POP, IMAP with and without encryption (POPS, IMAPS)

802.11 Wireless LAN Analysis and Troubleshooting

  • The unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz RF spectrum
  • Sorting out the 802.11 alphabet soup: 802.11a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, m, n, p, r, s, t, u, v. and w
  • The role of the Wi-Fi Alliance
  • Practical spectrum usage and channel separation
  • Environmental factors
  • Comparing 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11a, and 802.11n
  • Transmission Modulation Techniques - DSSS, CCK, OFDM
  • BSS (Ad-hoc) vs. ESS (Access Point model)
  • The wealth of information in beacon frames and their information elements (IE)
  • Analyzing Control, Management, and Data frames
  • The authentication, association, data transfer process
  • Analyzing client connection problems
  • Understanding and identifying contention vs. RTS/CTS based operation
  • Identifying rogue clients and access points
  • Realistic user load and throughput expectations
  • Causes of wireless frame retransmissions and the far greater impact vs. LANs
  • The SSID, BSSID, and ESSID
  • The 802.1x authentication control framework
  • Security: WEP, WPA, WPA2, TKIP, CCMP
  • The 802.11n controversial draft standards, legacy impact, and migration
  • 802.11n and MIMO multi-stream operation, single vs. dual channel operation
  • Quality of Service (QoS)/WMM/802.11e
  • The Lightweight Access Protocol (LWAP)
  • Wireless power management
  • Measuring the real throughput over wireless
  • Identifying and analyzing the impact of wireless-specific attacks
  • Understanding what RF Spectrum Analysis is and what it can and cannot do

VoIP Analysis and Troubleshooting

  • An in-depth analysis of the primary signaling protocols (H.323, SCCP, SIP)
  • CODECs: G.711, G.723, G.729, etc.
  • A look at the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP)
  • In-depth analysis of the streaming media protocol, Real Time Protocol (RTP)
  • Examining Secure RTP (SRTP)
  • Extracting and analyzing information from RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) packets
  • Analyzing voice calls as two mutually exclusive streams
  • Troubleshooting signaling problems
  • Analyzing the Voice quality of experience (QoE) - Identifying jitter, packet loss, and delay
  • VoIP and IP diffserv
  • Using 802.1q VLANs for VoIP
  • Techniques for VoIP playback
  • Mean Opinion Score (MOS) derivatives and caveats
  • The effect of recency on perceived call quality
  • Detailed convergence analysis - the real effect of data traffic on VoIP and vice-versa
  • Analyzing a SIP attack
  • A look at VoIP over MPLS

Basic Classroom Requirements

Each student needs access to an analyzer (laptop or desktop) in a lab or classroom setting with Ethernet access to a subnet or guest network with Internet. For training purposes, a 100 Mbps hub is desired although a switch is acceptable. For wireless training, authorized access to at least one access point for the instructor is required. A basic VGA projector and screen is also required.

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